“Roughly 2,700 VHS tapes featuring titles like “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” “Toxic Zombies” and “Buried Alive” arrived at Sterling Memorial Library last week. Yale has become the first institution in the country to actively collect VHS tapes, thanks to the initiative of Kaplanoff Librarian for American History David Gary and Aaron Pratt GRD ’16. Although the collection, which arrived late last week, is wide-ranging, a large portion consists of horror-genre movies, and most of the movies are from the 1970s and 80s.” (via Yale Daily News)

“This winter, students interested in frolicking in the snow can check out sleds and shovels from an unlikely source: the Law Library. The winter gear joins a long list of useful yet unconventional items in circulation at the Lillian Goldman Library, including blankets with sleeves and DVDs. The library boasts games, sporting gear, tech equipment and study tools. In the past, the library unofficially has also allowed undergraduates to check out items, provided that there are enough in circulation. Now, policy has changed so that Yale College students can check out anything from the Law Library, except for iPads and laptops. “We tried to think of what students lack when they’re away from home, what don’t they have in the dorm room or apartment,” said Julian Aiken, head of Access Services at the library. “The list of things we check out will only be limited by our own imagination or the ideas of students — if we can fit it in the library and check it out, we will.” (via Yale Daily News)

“Yale University Press has launched the Posen Digital Library, which makes available online the artworks, literary works, and artifacts from The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization. Created by Yale University Press and the Posen Foundation, the 10-volume Posen Library collects the best of Jewish culture from throughout the ages, from biblical times to the present. The first volume, covering the period from 1973 to 2005, was published in print in November, 2012. James E. Young, professor of English and Judaic studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is the Posen Library’s editor-in-chief.” (via YaleNews)

“Yale University Library has received a $3 million award from the Goizueta Foundation to launch a Digital Humanities Laboratory in Sterling Memorial Library. The award, which the Library received in late November and announced mid-December, will fund the lab’s facilities and new equipment, such as a small lab of computers, specialized software such as a technology that identifies the language of scanned text, Geospatial Information Systems and digitization equipment to turn out-of-copyright books into digital texts for research purposes. But the new equipment is “secondary” to the increased collaboration among expert faculty from various fields which the new space will foster, said Peter Leonard, librarian for digital humanities research.” (via Yale Daily News)

“Libraries do their best to adapt to changing times, but the times are not always kind to them. The library system at Yale, along with other Ivy League universities, has focused increasingly on digital media and collaboration in recent years. Recent innovations include Borrow Direct Plus — a service that allows students to borrow books from other university libraries on-site — and a new search system for the library catalogue website. But despite its best efforts to expand and innovate, the library has been affected by significant funding cuts Yale’s collection spending budget, for instance, was cut significantly between 2009 and 2010 in light of the economic downturn. While data from 2013 shows that spending has neared pre-recession levels, the library is still grappling with the inflation of collections media — the rate at which the price of materials is continuously increasing.” (via Yale Daily News)

“Family Equality Council, the national organization that represents the three million parents in America who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and their six million children today announced an agreement to deed all historical materials related to the organization and its role in the LGBT family equality movement to Yale University. The agreement ensures the preservation of more than thirty years of materials related to the founding, growth and expansion of Family Equality Council and documents the organization’s ongoing efforts to advance equality for families with parents who are LGBT.” (via Yale University Library News)

“Yale University’s cathedral of learning is getting a much-needed touch up. Sterling Memorial Library, the tallest building in the city when it opened in 1931, is in the midst of a complete restoration of its nave — the church-like expanse that awes visitors with its high archways, intricate stained glass and eye-catching stone work. When the project is completed a year from now, officials say, it will return the library to its former splendor while updating its functionality for today’s students and scholars.” (via New Haven Register)

“Yale University has chosen the Summon discovery service from Serials Solutions, a ProQuest business. With this purchase, the US university aims to improve access to its collection, which includes 15 million volumes and information in all media. Yale University Library is said to have chosen to work with Serials Solutions because of ease of customisation, integrity of search results, a unified index architecture and the company’s track record for rapid innovation of new discovery features.” (via Research Information)

“In 1963, Yale University opened the most modern of structures to house its most ancient of books. The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was an architectural incongruity amid the university’s traditional neo-Classical and neo-Gothic campus. Among Yale librarians, Gordon Bunshaft’s avant-garde design was about as popular as loud noises and gum-chewing patrons. They decried it as a “white elephant” and a “floating folly,” and the director even marked up postcards of the building to highlight perceived design flaws.” (via Boston.com)

“News of universities partnering with massive open online course providers has become commonplace, which is why Yale University stands out for what it’s not doing: rushing. While many top universities — including Harvard and Stanford Universities, along with many others — were announcing partnerships and launching their first MOOCs, Yale sat back, watched, and evaluated.”